Wuxi Life Sci﹣Tech Park

All for health: the strengths of Yakult's Wuxi plant

Yakult, a well-known Japanese probiotic yogurt brand, has seen its sales steadily growing sales in China, with 4.63 million bottles taken off the shelves each day as of March 2015.

In addition to continuously improving income levels in recent years, and together with increased awareness regarding health, there is greater understanding among the public of how probiotics contribute to health, and also higher expectations on food safety in China.

Therefore, Yakult is expected to grow further in the future, and the company is responding to such demand increase with the start of production at its Wuxi plant.

Japanese Yakult Honsha Co announced that Wuxi Yakult Co., Ltd., a production subsidiary of Yakult (China) Corporation, started the production of its Yakult fermented milk drink on June 1, 2015.

Yakult Honsha Co was established in 1955 in Japan and is a leading manufacturer of fermented diary drinks and is currently sold in 33 countries and regions across the world.

The Wuxi plant is Yakult's fifth production base on the Chinese mainland, following plants in Guangzhou (Plants 1 and 2), Shanghai and Tianjin, which makes China one of the most promising markets in the world.

Yakult's biggest plant in China

As Yakult's biggest plant in China, the Wuxi plant covers an area of 62,100 square meters. With continuous improvement of its manufacturing equipment, the plant's production capacity has increased from an initial 800,000 bottles per day to 1.8 million bottles by the end of 2015.The products are mainly aimed at consumers in East China and provinces nearby.

Strict production management

In order to ensure the quality of its fermented milk drink, every two hours,Yakult's spot checker will choose some samples to undergo 120 separate tests. The whole batch of products will be invalid in the case of just one bottle failing one test.

Yakult pays great attention to the conservation of resources. The Wuxi plant sticks strictly to the national wastewater discharge standard, in a bid to avoid pollution to rivers and lakes nearby. The wastewater discharged from the plant can be used to keep fish and water plants.

Transparent factory for public supervision

The Wuxi plant still holds the business model of public supervision for free. The company set up passageways for its workshops which are visible to the public through transparent windows, so customers can watch the drink being produced.

In addition, the plant has also produced material extoling the benefits of probiotics and intestinal health.